Bijan Robinson's 194 yards and a fourth-down stop at the 7 decide Falcons' 35-14 win at Lambeau

Atlanta won this on the ground and by forcing Green Bay into the one thing it did not want, throwing 53 times to get 328 yards. The Falcons ran it 41 times for 242, held the ball 37 minutes and 5 seconds, and left Lambeau Field with a 35-14 win and Kevin Stefanski's first as head coach. The margin was 21 and by the middle of the third quarter it did not feel that close.

The turning point was fourth and 1 at the Atlanta 7 with 10:02 left in the third quarter. Green Bay had opened the second half down 17-7 and driven 63 yards, and it needed a yard. Jordan Love threw for it, short right to Christian Watson, incomplete. Atlanta took the ball at its own 8 and went 92 yards in 10 plays and 6:18, Bijan Robinson breaking a 31-yard run out from his own 14 and Brian Robinson Jr. finishing from 7 yards on third and 1. A stop and a 92-yard answer turned a 10-point game into 24-7 and moved Atlanta's win probability from 67 percent to 92 percent. Green Bay never got inside 13 again.

Michael Penix Jr. made his first start since tearing an ACL last November. He threw an interception on the opening drive, Xavier McKinney picking off a ball meant for Jahan Dotson at the Green Bay 40, and after that he was steady: 18 of 25 for 256 yards, a touchdown, 10.2 yards an attempt, and not one sack taken. Atlanta did not ask him to win this, only to hand it off, protect the ball and hit the deep one when Green Bay left it uncovered.

Offense

The plan was no secret. Run it, run it again, and throw it to Drake London when Green Bay leaned in to stop the run. It produced 498 yards on 66 plays, 7.5 a snap. The run game was 41 carries for 242 yards at 5.9 a carry. Bijan Robinson had 29 of those carries for 194 yards with runs of 55 and 31, both to the edge, both with Green Bay's linebackers arriving a beat late. Brian Robinson Jr. added 50 on 10 and the go-ahead touchdown.

Third down was 6 of 10, the red zone 4 of 5, and the line did not allow a sack in 25 dropbacks, which mattered more for Penix than any number in his line.

London was the passing offense: nine catches on 10 targets for 194 yards. A 68-yard catch and run on third and 2 from the Atlanta 16 to open the fourth quarter, a 40-yarder on second and 8 that set up the clinching touchdown. Brandon Cisse was the Green Bay defender making the tackle on both, and on a 16-yard completion on third and 23 that turned a dead drive into a field goal. Cisse finished with 7 tackles and a long night. Behind London there was very little: Austin Hooper's 5-yard touchdown on misdirection, one catch for 5 yards on two targets for Kyle Pitts Sr., one for 11 on three for Dotson. Atlanta had five runs of 10 or more and three passes of 20 or more, and all three passes went to London.

The blemish was the flags. Six penalties for 83 yards, three of them offensive holding. One, on Jawaan Taylor, turned second and 11 at the Green Bay 17 into second and 21 at the 27 and cost Atlanta a touchdown on a drive that settled for a 31-yard field goal.

Defense

Green Bay ran nine times for 17 yards, 1.9 a carry. MarShawn Lloyd had 11 yards on four carries, Kaleb Johnson 6 on four, and by the second quarter Matt LaFleur had stopped trying. Love threw 53 times for 312 yards at 5.9 an attempt.

The rush did not do the work. Atlanta got one sack, from Cameron Thomas, in 54 dropbacks. What it got instead was pressure that did not finish: 12 quarterback hits, four each from Thomas and Brandon Dorlus, who was in Love's face on the interception that ended it.

Both stops that mattered came inside the 10. The fourth and 1 at the 7 was the first. The second came with 1:18 left, Green Bay at the Atlanta 10 and still throwing, when Love went to Jonnu Smith over the middle and Xavier Watts intercepted at the 3.

C.J. Henderson started for A.J. Terrell Jr., who is on injured reserve with a groin injury, and had 8 solo tackles with three passes defensed. Mike Hughes had 7 tackles and also Atlanta's worst defensive play, a 34-yard pass interference on Matthew Golden that handed Green Bay the ball at the Atlanta 33 late in the half. The corners did give up yards: Watson caught 7 for 96, Golden 5 for 100 on 12 targets, and Green Bay converted two of three fourth downs. The Packers reached the red zone four times and came away with two scores. Jessie Bates III left for a single play in the third quarter and came back.

Special teams

Zach Harrison blocked Trey Smack's 47-yard field goal with 3:47 left in the second quarter, and Atlanta turned around and went 63 yards in eight plays for the Hooper touchdown. Three points denied and seven taken is a ten-point swing, and it is why the half ended 17-7.

Nick Folk was 2 for 2 on field goals, from 44 and 31, and 3 for 3 on extra points. Jake Bailey punted twice, averaged 45.5 and dropped both inside the 20. Zachariah Branch had an 18-yard punt return and Brian Robinson Jr. a 30-yard kickoff return that started the clinching drive at the Atlanta 33.

Field position was the one loss, and Green Bay earned it. Daniel Whelan punted five times for a 50.0 average with four inside the 20, which is why Atlanta began drives at its own 8, 8 and 11. Two of those three produced points anyway. Skyy Moore returned five kickoffs for 134 yards, and Green Bay's average start was its own 28 to Atlanta's own 21. Atlanta won from the worse end of the field.

Coaching

Stefanski's first win looked like his plan from the first snap. Forty-one runs to 25 pass attempts, extra linemen reported as eligible at the goal line, and a quarterback asked to throw on his own terms rather than on third and 12. Atlanta ran 66 plays to Green Bay's 63 while holding the ball 14 minutes and 10 seconds longer, which is what controlling a game looks like.

The in-game management was quiet and mostly right. Atlanta attempted no fourth downs because it never needed to, spent no timeouts getting lined up, and went 63 yards in 2:43 for the touchdown before halftime. The one aggressive call came at 3:33 of the fourth, when Stefanski went for two after Robinson's second touchdown and Penix found Chris Blair to make it 35-14, pushing the lead past three scores.

Halftime held. Green Bay had the ball first in the third quarter, moved it 63 yards and got stopped, and Atlanta answered with 92. That is a team that came out ready. The correction available is the penalties, which in a closer game are the difference.

What it means

Atlanta is 1-2 with 51 points on the season, 35 of them from Thursday night. Through two weeks the Falcons had scored 16 points in 120 minutes, including a 34-3 loss at home to Carolina. Thursday they had 17 by halftime and 498 yards by the end. It also ended a Green Bay home-opener winning streak of 13 straight.

What has shown up all three weeks is Bijan Robinson. He is the offense, and the reason he carried 29 times is that Atlanta does not yet trust a second thing as much. London made the second thing look fine on Thursday, but that was against a corner having a bad night with the safeties tilted toward the run.

The defense's shape was clear too: it took the run away completely and could not get near the quarterback. One sack in 54 dropbacks worked against a team with no other option. It will not every week.

What is next

New Orleans, Monday night, October 5, at the Caesars Superdome. The Saints are 1-1, and the division is bunched: Carolina and New Orleans at 1-1, Atlanta and Tampa Bay behind.

The question Atlanta has to answer in those 11 days is whether Thursday was the offense or the matchup. Green Bay has now allowed 91 points in three games and lost the plot on defense the moment it could not stop the run. New Orleans will build its front to take Robinson away and make Penix throw 35 times. If Atlanta has an answer to eight in the box that does not require London beating a bad corner, this starts to look like a season. If it does not, Thursday was one good night at Lambeau.